A conference titled "Queer and Feminist Theories and Practices: Studies in Sexuality in the 1990s" will take place Friday, April 11, noon-5 p.m. in the Whitney Humanities Center auditorium, 53 Wall St. The event, which is being sponsored by the Yale Research Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies Committee, is free and open to the public.
The conference will explore "how and where the study of sexuality takes place in the 1990s and suggest some future trends in queer theory, lesbian and gay studies, and the study of sexuality," according to faculty members Ed Stein and Judith Halberstam, organizers of the event. Ms. Halberstam is a visiting assistant professor in the women's studies program, and Mr. Stein is a lecturer in the philosophy department.
They note that "in the last decade, lesbian and gay studies/queer studies has become, for a number of complex reasons, a primary site for the study of sexuality. Queer theory in many ways represents a move beyond thinking simply in terms of identity, beyond even the idea of sexual identity itself. ... In particular, we are interested in exploring the complex relationship between the study of sexuality and feminist theory.
"More generally, the symposium will take up the issue of what the relationship should be, could be or might be between queer theory and other areas of minority studies," they add. "Panelists will be addressing, either explicitly or implicitly, a wide range of issues, including what kind of work on sexuality is currently being produced in the academy within what disciplines and using what methodologies. They will explore the institutional dynamics between queer studies and women's studies, queer studies and postcolonial studies, queer studies and ethnic studies and so on."
In addition to Mr. Stein and Ms. Halberstam, who both will moderate the discussion, other Yale faculty members participating in the conference are Laura Green, assistant professor of English, and Lynne Huffer, assistant professor of French. They will serve as respondents.
Conference participants from other universities include Henry Abelove, English, Wesleyan University; Juanita Diaz, sociology, State University of New York-Binghamton; Lisa Duggan, history and American studies, New York University; Esther Newton, anthropology, State University of New York-Purchase; Tricia Rose, African studies, New York University; and Ronald de Sousa, philosophy, University of Toronto.
For more information, call Mr. Stein at 432-2272.